A month later, the locals of Chengel Pet organized a function to felicitate the actors of Buvana Oru Kavi Kyuil. Rajini was noticed for his massy and a different performance. He was quite nervous standing in front of the mike. He suffered from stage fright and had been incoherent.
Now after twenty years I see a change. I find him confident, quoting from Vivekananda and Ramakrishna effortlessly. Many feel that if I had done Rajini's role instead of the villain I might have been a superstar today. But I beg to differ and believe in destiny. Everything is pre-ordained. Rajini is capable of drawing attention to himself in whatever role he plays. He might have done something new if he had been the villain, and would still have got adulation.
Agreed, he does not breathe, eat and think movie like Kamal, nor is he a great actor like Sivaji Ganesan. Rajini is a director's actor. That way I can easily classify him a 'phenomenon'. He is even more blessed than MGR. It is difficult to answer what made him a superstar. He's not good looking in the conventional sense. He has small eyes, one up and the other down. Yet there's something nice about him. Maybe it is his mane, his facial contours or the Dravidian skin. What matters is, he is accepted and that's important.
"He's not a 'thinking' actor. Nor is he a 'performer' like Sivaji Ganesan. He has not done the variety of roles that Kamal has, yet he has an 'universal' appeal. When you were to question someone, and ask 'why do you like Rajinikanth?', invariably the answer is 'I don't know but I like him.' Isn't that something great?
An example of that is that in 16 Vayadhinile, Kamal worked for 50 to 60 days, straining and breathing life into the role of the village simpleton, Chappani. Rajini just had three days of work. He made sure his role was much talked about with his idhu eppdi irukku and sidelined Kamal with his mannerism alone. When his name appeared in the titles, Midland Theatre reverberated with whistles and applause. I was stunned. Imagine a villain, who is supposedly cruel and a bully and is to be despised, receiving such favourbale response."
In the picture: Rajnikanth and Sridevi in Gayathri
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